Hackney leisure centre redevelopment wins approval
The London borough of Hackney has gained planning consent for a £384m mixed-use redevelopment of the Britannia Leisure Centre next to Shoreditch Park, N1.
The proposals comprise eight new buildings, including residential blocks of up to 24 storeys. The council is taking advice from Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design.
Up to 481 new homes will be created, 81 of which will be “genuinely affordable”.
The London borough of Hackney has gained planning consent for a £384m mixed-use redevelopment of the Britannia Leisure Centre next to Shoreditch Park, N1.
The proposals comprise eight new buildings, including residential blocks of up to 24 storeys. The council is taking advice from Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design.
Up to 481 new homes will be created, 81 of which will be “genuinely affordable”.
The refurbished leisure centre will include two training pools, a cafe, a six-court sports hall, crèche and soft play area, sauna and steam room, gym, four squash courts, two five-a-side pitches and two tennis courts.
A new secondary school and sixth form will offer 1,140 places. There will also be a new public square and entrance to the park.
The new buildings will replace the existing Britannia Leisure Centre, asphalt tennis courts and the Hoxton Press marketing suite.
Construction of the leisure centre and school will complete in 2021, with the remaining phases completing later. The old leisure centre will stay open until the new facility is complete.
Philip Glanville, mayor of Hackney, said: “It’s fantastic that this ambitious scheme has been approved by Hackney’s planning sub-committee, and we now hope the GLA will do the same.
“Hackney needs improved leisure provision, hundreds of more school places and thousands of new homes. Our proposals help deliver on all of these.”
Lizzie Le Mare, associate director at Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, said: “This is an important site with great potential to offer better facilities for the local community and a particularly good example of local authorities thinking innovatively about how to provide services and manage their land and property.
“Although there have been a number of planning challenges, we have worked collaboratively with council planners to promote good design principles that focus on making sure that this will be a welcome and accessible part of the borough as well as meeting wider local needs.”
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